What 4 county baseball, softball teams should expect in Thursday’s PIAA quarterfinals

With the PIAA tournaments heating up, four county baseball and softball teams remain alive in their quest for state titles.

Three Centre County baseball teams and one softball squad will play Thursday in the PIAA quarterfinals, the second round of their respective tournaments. A win means moving on to Monday’s semifinals, while a loss means the end of the season.

Bald Eagle Area is the lone softball team left in the postseason, but half of the county’s baseball teams remain alive for the ultimate prize — including Bellefonte, Philipsburg-Osceola and St. Joseph’s.

Here’s a closer look at all of Thursday’s matchups:

Softball

Class 3A: Bald Eagle Area (20-3) vs. Keystone Oaks (14-6), 5 p.m. at St. Francis University: Bald Eagle Area should be considered the clear favorite here, but Keystone Oaks has come on strong during the postseason. It entered the WPIAL tournament as the sixth seed but then won three straight playoff games to make its first-ever district title appearance. Granted, it lost 12-0 (in five innings) to Avonworth — but it rebounded in the PIAA first round with an 8-0 win over District 10 champ Girard. BEA? It’s been consistent all season long. There’s not a weakness on this team, as Madison Peters is solid in the circle, the defense has been on-point, and the offense has averaged 6.4 runs per game. Plus, it’s already beaten defending state champ Philipsburg-Osceola twice this season — eliminating it in the district semis.

Baseball

Class 4A: Bellefonte (16-5) vs. East Pennsboro (23-2), noon at Newport: Can Bellefonte win without ace Ashton Wetzler on the mound? That’ll be the big question Thursday. Wetzler hasn’t just been the best in Centre County, he’s been one of the best in the state — with a 0.66 ERA, 84 strikeouts and 28 walks in 63.2 innings. But after throwing 102 pitches Monday, he’s not eligible to pitch again until Friday. Luckily, Bellefonte has four other options to replace Wetzler, and coach Jon Clark said the Red Raiders’ pitcher could be a gametime decision. East Pennsboro is a formidable opponent; it’s scored at least eight runs in all but six games this season and won by the mercy rule in 11 of its 25 contests. The Panthers also boast a deep pitching staff, so Bellefonte will need its bats to be hot from the start — even if the Red Raiders did beat East Penn 15-4 in five innings last year at the state tournament.

Class 3A: Philipsburg-Osceola (16-7) vs. Franklin (22-1), 3:30 p.m. at Showers Field (DuBois): Franklin is on a 21-game win streak, although its last game — a 3-2 rally over Freeport in the PIAA first round — came down to a walk-off single. The Knights’ lineup from top-to-bottom is pretty solid, as the team is batting a collective .330 and the pitching staff sports a combined 1.73 ERA. As for P-O? As the sixth seed in the district tournament, it’s already playing with house money in some ways. It doesn’t have quite the impressive stats as Franklin — 2.84 ERA; .280 batting average — but it’s embracing its underdog role, and it has several standouts that can compete with anybody. Junior Keegan Soltis is batting .492, freshman Jeremy Whitehead is hitting .303, and the pitching staff has a sub-3.0 ERA.

Class A: St. Joseph’s (9-9) vs. Halifax (16-8), 5:30 p.m. at Central Columbia (Bloomsburg): It’s been quite the run by the Wolves. With so many new players this year, SJCA really didn’t come into its own until late in the season — and, despite its .500 mark, it should not be taken for granted. The small school now has three solid pitchers and, even without Ben Macafee on the mound Thursday due to Monday’s 98-pitch count, Cam Burris and Jack Mangene are both solid. That being said, Halifax — the District 3 runner-up — has two pitching aces up its sleeve. Although Blake Miller (2.09 ERA) won’t be available Thursday due to his Monday pitch count, the Wildcats still have ace Nathan Blasick (1.31 ERA). This game has the potential to be a pitcher’s duel — especially considering, without Blasick’s blazing .486 batting average, Halifax is hitting just .252 as a team.

This story was originally published June 5, 2019 at 4:56 PM.